some of them, that is my two cents more, thank you for joining us, don't forget to dvr the show if you can't catch us live, have a great night, and we'll see you right back here tomorrow. >> good evening, tonight with only 28 days remaining until election day. president obama looking to big bird for help. the president's campaign theme for some reason still focussed on last week's debate flop, they realize a new ad using big bird to sarcastically distort governor romney's approach to deficit reduction. >> one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird. >> it is me, big bird. >> big, yellow, a menace to our

economy. lou: governor romney mentioning big bird in last week's debate as he proposed cuts and funding to the public broadcasting system among a whole bunch of other cuts, it has not stopped sesame workshop from objecting to the president's campaign ad, the nonprofit organization wrote quote, we have approved nong campaign add and as of our general practice, have requested that they be taken down, big bird joining the aarp, and a cincinnati deli owner and nbc's andrea mitchell on the list of people who' the obama campaign to just leave them out of the obama campaign, bad news piling up for the president, some of

his most reliable brends hitting him hard, little bi politic coct small ball. and the silly obama campaign. and nbc news called ad absurd, their chief white house correspondent chuck todd said, quote, when can the obama campaign going to stop talking about the debate. they cannot seem to turn the page from the debate. any conversation about that debate, i assume helped mitt romney. that is the reality that is beginning to set in scores of new polls show governor romney now taking control of this race. gallop poll of likely vothers have governor romney with a two point lead over the president nationally, and pew polling with a 4 point lead, and wiping out the president's 18 points september advantage with women. the two candidates are now tied

at 47% with female voters. public policy polling today, they left leaning polling has governor romney with a 2. lead nationally, the first time that gov hegovernor had a lead in thl all year, and rasmussen report, average of poll rults with 11 swing states, including florida, michigan, ohio and pennsylvania, shows governor romney up on the president 49 to 47%. president obama has held the lead in poll for 17 of previous 19 days, that is all changed. we take all of that up here tonight. we'll talk with republican national committee communication director shawn spicer, wall street legend, louis lehrman, and fdic chair sheila bair is

joining us, our first guest said that republican ground game, is beginning to show impressive results, absentee and early voting operation is now in full gear. and enthusiasm on the side of governor romney with just those 28 days remaining, joining us now is shawn spicer, republican national committee, communications director, you have to be delearous when you look at poll results in my career, i have never seen a one-week reversal like this. >> it is phenomenal, i think going back to the comments you talked about with respect to the debate, what i think really happened there, the obama campaign started with you know talking about how tired he was, al gore innocentiated it might bal -- insinuated it might be altitude, but they saw both candidates on stage together and could compare and contrast.

governor romney onstage with a plan, talking about promises of the country how we'll fix them. president obama, not that his style was off but i don't think that policies over last 4 years are things you want to brag about or -- >> are you so confident with the lead that governor has been able to post in a week, you take time to advise president obama's campaign? as well as your own? >> lou, let me, i'll put it in context your business, at the end of the day, if you don't have topics to discuss, you come on camera, you can set there and babble, it are not that lou of not prepared, but he didn't have anything to talk about. lou: i'm glad you brought me into it, you are a communications director, hit

hitting 100%. >> if we is bring big bird in, i can bring you it. lou: thanks for flattery, governor romney with this lead, the question is automatic this is the nature if you will. not biassed but cant of national media, is it a sustainable bounce. first there is a bounce, then a bounce now it has to be sustainable, and then i i suppoe the next we is for how long? what is your reading? >> the race will continue to be tight, you will see movement both ways, but i think one on the substance going forward not just in debates but in -- as the american electorate tunes in substance will trump style, american people will say there are a lot of problems going on, i am struggling, my family is

struggling, i like what i'm hear from the governor in terms of his plan. our ground game, to prepare, get out, get our volunteers going, last week, we did 2.5 million voter contacts with 30,000 volunteers around battle ground states. lou: is that the first time that you energized ground? >> yeah, that number is breaks all sorts of records, combine that over last several months, you talk about 35 million voter contacts and almost 100,000 volunteers, the number are just better than they were, in not only 2008 but in 2004, the enthusiasm we're seeing in terps of volunteers calling us up saying i want to help, i'll make phone calls, tell me what i can do to help governor romney. lou: are you talking about as a result of the governor's performance in the debate is, that the change??3 >> we were on track to beat every record already before.

but the additional support from that night was unbelievable, we're continuing to build a greater operation, that was pretty sol mid begin with, and -- solid to begin with, it is phenomenonnal to see the numbers in terms of the weekend, how many new contacts and volunteers, i think that the combination, momentum and you look at further into the polls, ask, where the enthusiasm is, we're seeing our enthusiasm, which was already high continue to climb, and i think theirs was not great to begin work declining a little bit. lou: shawn spicer thank you for being with us. >> much more on resurgence of governor romney with the a-team, coming up. >> new questions about president obama's campaign fundraising after an explosive new report indicates his campaign may be accepting illegal donations. >> shannon green with our

report. >> and on wall street, attention turning to fiscal cliff, a forecast of a possible global economic slowdown. what happens next? wall street legend louis lehrman with the answers. when we got married.

i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. and she became the full time mother of three. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anythingn the schedule.

lou: stocks today falling as the international monitor fund warn -- monetary fund warned the deep global slowdown they see approaching, alarmingly high, they say, we'll talk up that with lehrman in just moments. on wall street investors saw little reasons to buy ahead of what is expected to be a weak earnings seen, dow jones dropping 110. the biggest decline in more than 6 weeks, and s&p down 14, and nazdaq down 47. alcoa shares moving higher after hours, reporting a 143 million quarterly loss adjusted coming

in ra at 3-cents a share, enougo excite wall street, beating their targett. in economic news, international monetary fund cutting global forecast this year, to 3.5%, and at home, small business owners showing they are somewhat more pessimistic than last month, sales remain weak. and capital one said they are latest have. ongoing cyberattacks by a group targets web sites of major banks they claim to have ties to terrorists saying it is carrying out attacks retaliating for a youtube video to ridiculed prophet mohammad. well joining me now, wall street legend, louis lehrman. former chair of reagan-gold commission it is gate to have

you here. >> great to be here. lou: law talk about th -- let'sk about the cyberattacks, some view they are a little bit closer to did damage than anyone thought, so far no damage. lasting damage at all. your thoughts? >> well cyberattacks in general have been not only industrial espionage but also, a full-scale assault on the most important of our defense pro pry tear information, so in that sense they have done a lot of attacks, are they trying to operate on the quirketty exchanges with alga rythms to disrupt trading might be another question. lou: it seems that wall street having enough success on its own thank you. using these high frequency trading, highly sophisticated series of programmatic trades, last week, 4% of the volume

estimated to have been because of one algorithm carrying out false trades if you will, a scout program on the market, this is getting stupid, is it not? about well, -- >> wall street? >> yeah, the scout program, as you say, a euphemism for an attempt to manipulate equity markets in a particular way with vast amount of trading on a short period of time, 70% is high frequency, it can be disguised in this massive share of market gain by high frequency trading, this is a danger. the exchanges have to do much more about curtailing it. lou: i think we should be clear with our audience, high frequency firms are often associated with and part of in fact, the ownership of the exchange itself. often in co-location, their

servers with those of the exchange. this is a nasty, nasty set of relationships, that does not seem to be functioning as a exchange should in my opinion. >> it is not arm's length any more than anything a brokerage operation or a investment pro pry terry arrangement within a commercial bank, simply golden doors separating or barriers to you know inside operations. so, yes. should they be separated in some recalled off way? of course. >> and the sec, you know, they act as if they don't comprehend what is happening, they are carrying out an investigation, i understand. but lord, each of these firms has the ability upon sou subpoeo

tell them what is going on. >> and apply taxes and rules again this type of domination through high frequency trading through a particular set of security, in the particular case you are making about, maybe 500 securities in several seconds how to did te deter it. lou: in fractions of seconds. yet we hear nothing from timothy geithner, nothing of any real substance from the sec. there was are -- forgive me for being nostalgic. a president had sufficient cred bitty and trust oty and -- credd trust on wall street he could talk to leaders of the exchanges and the firms and say, folks, this is not the way we are doing business issue we'll do it this way, it is for your good in business and as a county that is impossible right now?

>> similar to what you suggested about relationship between the exchanges on one hand. and high frequentty trading firms, one problem with federal government is that, they are so entangled with wall street with their 16 primary dealers, and all of the credible, not inside information in the way in which one talks about that when is illegal, but you can say they can front run the fed, and treasure they have accessed information far ahead of the public, perhaps not illegally gained but they get it. lou: your sense of the market right now, we have projects of fall off in earnings from last year, about 2.5%. which will take us down to lowest level since 2009. that is create something concern and anxiety. what are your thoughts about the

next 2350u week week -- few weed months. >> for what it is worth we have earnings down in our firm next year, more than just 3%, as much as 10%, and 15%. lou: i'm talking about this quarter? >> this quarter, earnings might just be fraction of that down, maybe 3% or 4%, the fourth quarter, economic growth should be consistent with very lacklust irperformance of the year am maybe 1.55 to 2%. lou: weakening further next year? >> weakening further. unemployment not improving as friday report might have suggested in a one-off month, a very startling report. by the labor department. in any event. not only are earnings down but gdp, output is flat. >> and giving us all something to contemplate as we approach

november 6, seems like at warp speed now. gerri: we need a romney rally is what we need. lou: always. our bipartisan legend of wall street lewis lehrman. >> thank you, lou. lou: up next, "forbes" magazine once called her the second most powerful woman in the world, we will talk with the woman who ran the fdic, sheila pa bair is joig us with views on little timothy geithner he was 1 called -- once called. is the obama administration campaign benefiting from some illegal activity? right after the break.

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lou: a watch dog group is out with an explosive report, that president obama's campaign may be accepting illegal donations through its web site. fox news correspondent shannon breen live in washington with the story. reporter: a new report shines a spotlight on a old problem for the campaign. in 2008, washington post ran a article outlining a number of problem with president obama's campaign donations, including absence of security barriers on web sites, something that campaign aides acknowledges that could allow foreign and other illegal donations to slip through the crack, fast forward to 2012, not a lot has changed. the campaign's web site has a store section you can buy things

like t-shirts that requires a security code from your credit card. that is not the case on the section of the campaign web site used to take in the donations. >> if you look at last monthly statement filed by this campaign with federal election they relationshipped millions of dollars in donation with no zip code or just 4 of 5 digits that is clear and affirmative evidence they are not using a robust security system on the back-end. i think that evidence is irrefutable it is based on their own data. >> obama campaign fired back, saying it is littl politically motivated saying quote, ofarc does not accept donations from any inul ineligible individual. the commerce expert say that a

security upgrade would take just a few clicks and minutes, but the obama campaign said it remains confidence that its you current safeguards are good enough. lou: shannon, terrific story. but what do we know about security of romney campaign site? do they have safeguards? >> well, this group looked at every federal race, house, senate and white house, saying that romney campaign was strong in two respects is asks for more security information and codes from your credit card if you want to make a donation. the proof is in pudding on back-end they look at the report that each candidate file, in romney case, what they found there were few outlier, few people donated without correct zip codes or code information in their estimate, romney campaign has a much tighter security barrier with making sure nobody who is ineligible gets to give

money in the u.s. presidential race. lou: thank you very much. fascinating story, we'll watch it. thank you. shannon breen. this will be one of the short of the chalk talks i have done, i am doing it because of jon stewart on the daily show. >> this president, is focused for whatever reason on .0008% of the problem. for getting for a second that 4 billion is not .0008% of 5 trillion, but. .08 with a couple of zeros between lead financial analysts on the been network. >> well, all i could figure is jon is grumpy, upset after he crushing defeat by my pal bill ariley saturday night -- bill

o'reilly saturday night at their debate in washington, he decided to attack me, because i had temerity, to point out that stewart's buddy president obama came up with a big idea running up 2 trillion in deficits to eliminate 4 billion in write-off in oil companies. the same tax treatment others receive after president obama ran up trillion in deficit, jon stewart, talented. but sometimes he does not quite understand that president obama is responsible for those trillions of dollars in deficits and governor romney while talking about big bird, and cuts off funding to pbs was talking about a wide range of cuts, that he would make because he was tired of borrowing money from china to spend it and run-up debt for the taxpayers to have to payback. for generations. governor romney was not talking

about one program he was talking about everything that we va have to borrow from chinese government to sta sustain, inclg big bird, this part hurts, .0008? i thought -- i wrote this, that is correct. but then i did this. which is not. this is a no-no. and stewart correctly caught me, making well, something that does not happen here very often, he is correct. about that but there are two things that make this newsworthy, first, i don't often make mat mathematical or even rr rhetorical mistakes, and jon stewart is not often correct. >> sheila bair is joining us,

and tells us why she does not like tim geithner, and she will talk about her new book, "bull by the horn " >> up next, the greatest idea to come out of the murder idea of the country, chicago. lou: obama campaign really does not like governor romney. why is that? could it have something to to with the polls, and the direct they are headed? we take it up with the a-team next. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste.

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lou: my next guest was one of the first to identify the subprime crisis, a key player helping to repair damage after 2008 financial crash. in this new book, she -- targets among others. timothy geithner as bailouter in chief, the book, "bull by the

horns" written by former chairman of the fdic, sheila bair. on time a magazine list, among hundred most influencal people. great to have you with us, congratulations on the book, a terrific book. and it is fascinating your perspective in midst of that. to be clear i've said before, i thought part of problem is we didn't have more people serving in washington like you. -- >> thank you. lou: i want to compliment you again for the service you have performed for the country. you obviously, felt that you were being manipulated, and overrun at various points by the administration. in particular you were distrustful of, treasury secretary timothy geithner tell us why? >> i think tim and i had a

fundamentally different philosophical approach to the issues, he was putting a lot of money in financial institutions and getting them healthy and profitable thinking that would take care of the economy. i wanted some accountability, i wanted shareholders to and owners to take losses and managers, i wanted them to feel pain. there was a clash of views. but i must say, i think moribund economic growth now is partly attributed to the fact we did not do anything to restructure failing institutions and down size this sector. we propped everybody up, this is a bloated sector, this is not serving the curb current econo. that is having an impact now. lou: it is easy for someone in my position to criticize in

retrospect what was happening at the time with the bailout, i will be honest with this. i was saying, why is there no penalty for the necessity of bailout? why no safeguards going forward? why not walls built within the massivv institutions, there were none. and that to me is, because these are bright, and capable people, no matter the differences in policy and direction, how in the world could that come to be? >> right, well, i don't know. i think a lot of things happened in 2007, and 2008 that never should have we lost our compass, the unafford able mortgages made. and huge market built up with no reports, or transparency. and of it really it defied logic looking back, what we allowed to

go to into 2008. we did have tools we needed, some were healthy and managed well. other point i tried to make in the book, but the sick ones those were having trouble, we did not have a play book to deal with them, there is controversy and different views about dodd-frank, i think that gives regulators a tool to impose that accountability, and discipline. if they get in trouble again, now if there is the will to use it that is another question, but tools are there now. lou: you say neither president obama or governor romney is drawing, if i may a correct infrances our expresses a policy view as a result of that in the situation wire in today. >> i'm disappointed in both sides this elect is all about the economy. but the economy problems were caused by crisis and decisions made in the clean up, after the

crisis. and i think there were some mistakes that were made, but we need a clear path going forward, you need to stable the financial sector to have a healthy economy, we don't have that right now. now. >> wellnow. lou: lewis lehrman said that sheila bair is the china of person we need -- is the kind of 57 wperson we need to wall stre, he supports you, thank you sheila bair. lou: thank you, lou. up next, if taxing solve all problems, so say the left, murder capital of this country could becomes tax capital of violence america, the story of chicago's latest brilliant idea. >> and associated press, target of considerable criticism. showing political bias and bad

judgment. a prominent news week writer has a change of heart on his favorite candidate, my, my, my goodness, all that saed. up tomorrow, president obama slipping in polls going negative. and sour on the campaign trail. producer of 2016, obama's america. desuessal join us, as does trial attorney, peter johnson and senator ron johnson, wrong time friend of congressman paul ryan. in advance of the vice president at debates, we're coming right back.

lou: obama supporters, just absolutely going ballistic over the president's disastrous debate performance, and the impact on his re-elect chances, if you are unfamiliar with sul vesullivan a church, he suggestd

thht obama is democrats ronald reagan, his latest piece, blasting the president, he is so disappointed with the president, too arrogant to take a core campaign responsibility seriously, that is to actually prepare for a debate. to arrogant to give his supporters what they deserve, hopefully this serves as a lesson toers to news week. a major restaurant chain, testing out new policy of cuts back on full-time jobs to limit financial impact of obama car, darden, restaurants, that own olive garden, and red lobster is no longer offeringfuingful time

schedules. they face fines, and their there is an experiment with part-time workers. >> romney and president, in ohio, one of 8 swing states that could decide the election. since this data shows, income continued to drop last year, dropping in most battle ground states, except iowa and wisconsin, florida hardest hit. >> associated press, under fire for taking what critics call a cheap shot against governor romney, posted -- look at this, this image with governor romney bending over in front of a surprised schoolgirl, initial caption did not explain her reaction, but they have updated it, girl was thrilled at romney was posing for a photo in front of her.

again, it is just about as well, dumbest stunt by ap since, well, since just about a week ago. it is less than a month in which critics questioned the ap's editorial choices, this one, two weeks ago, ap and reuters with a picture of netanyahu, that was reminiscent of a nazi salute, this week, ap pushlished an article suggestions quote, if mitt romney becomes president, he might need a crash course in diplomacy 101. can you believe that nonsense, reason that romney offended spain by saying he did not want to go down their path of reckless spending in last week's debate? and he need the lesson? unbelieveable. >> the murder capital of this

country is chicago, it wants to become the dumb capital as well, cook county president proposes a so-called violent tax on guns and ammunition to help plug a $115 million budget gap next year, a spokesperson for illinois state rifle association say the that tax would punish the wrong people. and suggestions if they want to tax the problem. chicago to start taxing gangs, and drug dealers. chicago's murder rate, up almost 30% this year, 406 people murdered year-to-date. if that i want to tax something, subsidize what you want and tax what you don't, maybe they should tax really dumb politicians. >> up next, polls turning in governor romney's favor, strongly, some mainstream media are having a fit, many are turning on the president. we will take that up with the a-team, which is next.

liz macdonald. and other file there coming down christopher hahn, next.

lou: joining us now the a-team, good to have you here. let's start with you, this market sole off today, it looks very weak, talking with lewis lehrman earlier, i did not hear a lilt in his face talking about future prospects. >> looks like a little cash taken off the table there, running to the sidelines a bit,

wire in a recovery of downward gdp revision, any time you see market act skittish, you might say, am i too much invested in the market, should i pullback. lou: looking at this economy, jobless numbers last week, terrific for president obama. 7.8%. yet his numbers are plumb et ceteraing plummeting. >> me had a weak, weak, weak debate last week, and these numbers are catching up to him. the president missed an opportunity to show -- point out contradition in romney's state and present himself forcefully. >> i thought romney was good, but not just that but obama of so weak. >> horrible. >> he was, i think that hit home

with a lot of people, women are saying, wait we did not know who this romney character is but now obama is looking weak. lou: they are tied 47% among women, governor romney has a double digit lead among independence, governor -- president obama won by 8 points among independents in 2008 that is gone. >> we'll see what happens in a week, i expects the president to do well in the town hall format. lou, you do but you thought he would do well earlier. >> but now, you have liberal bloggers, saying he blew ii on substance and style, can he recover. can he seize the moment back that was lost. lou: what is your judgment? a failure to perform or a lack

of capability? was it a comparison which he cannot beat? >> i think a fail law to perform. -- failure to perform, he did not live up to the moment, he could have, but how do you comeback from that? how do you come back hammering away the debt and what i'm going to do as president on the debt he set acid simpson-bowles. we have a never balancing budget act in congress. >> he has got to do better. lou: i think it is interesting. we have three of these, a great idea. but there is a vice presidential debate, this week. >> thursday. lou: exciting. and i am excited. what are the risks that we're going to be mired in ryan budget

talk and blather? >> the joke is that the vice president is the stimulus plan for journalists, he train of thought makes all local stops, and he likes to talk a lot. >> a brilliant term. >> he will hammer away on paul ryan's medicare. >> he should. >> and now we have the president hammering away -- about big bird. >> does matter. we will all be interested and watching. lou: that is the question. >> i don't think that anybody votes for vice president. lou: does it matter as much as big bird? >> no. >> you can't talk down about big bird. >> i have a 5 year oil nothing matters as much. lou: it will look great in the private marketplace, where it belongs, where it once was, jim hensen selling rights back a decade ago.

now they will go private after going public. >> a fun debate. lou: thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. lou: up next, one view are may have uncovered the real reason that obama campaign is looking to big bird for help, we go to the in box next, stay with us. the capital one cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus.

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this is a test.

lou: now it's time for your comments. ted wrote me to say that when gas prices spike during the bush administration, it was bush and cheney's fault. shouldn't the same apply to the obama administration? well, i think they still blame bush, don't they? for just about everything. it's interesting that the national media is not holding president obama accountable at all. matthew wrote on facebook that the chosen one is not feeling the love. his feathers must be ruffled. how sad, indeed, it is sad. one knows that it may get a little sadder. and marilynne tweeted big bird and the